Out with the Old: How to Handle the EDI Migration Process
Bye-Bye Old EDI: Forming your EDI Migration Strategy
Finally, your company is ditching that legacy EDI software that you’ve spent many frustrating years toiling with since starting your position. While you’re elated to finally watch that old EDI software go the way of the dinosaur, there is one problem that lingers in your mind — the painstaking EDI migration process. Changing EDI providers or software can be a daunting task, it requires clear communication and cooperation among various teams within the company and there are bound to be minor technical hiccups along the way, but if you follow a clear, organized approach your EDI migration project will be smooth and easy.
In with the New: Your Next Steps in the EDI Migration Process
Some of the most challenging EDI migration projects involve companies within the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) or consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry, as they often oversee a wide number of SKUs and have many retail partners with whom they supply. FMCG companies often work with many different EDI systems and handle numerous message types and standards while sending important data about the merchandise they are sending to their retail partners — all of whom seem to have a different way of doing business. For this reason, it is important for an FMCG company to take a premeditated approach to the switch.
After all the necessary people at your organization are on board to make the switch to a new EDI provider and new software (if your old software was in-house), you will begin the planning stages of the migration.
Planning the initial steps and approach you want to take should be done internally as every company’s message exchange and EDI process is unique. Only you and your colleagues truly know the ins and outs of your systems and understand what you want from a new EDI provider. Outsourcing this step can remove visibility from the process and affect decision making. This is not to say you shouldn’t seek an external expert to get some tips, however.
The Road Ahead
After this initial planning phase, you are on the road to a modern EDI solution, but there is still work to be done. Next, you’ll enter an analysis phase and then a vendor research phase to find some EDI providers that fit your needs. These steps are explained in greater detail in our latest whitepaper about the EDI migration process. Ultimately, the goal is to find a provider that is the right fit for your requirements and can optimize logistics, reduce errors, and decrease workloads beyond what your previous EDI solution was capable of.
The best EDI solutions available today not only offer classic EDI, but also automation capabilities and advanced business intelligence dashboards allowing you to see things like average delivery time per partner or the average number of incorrect orders thereby allowing you to improve your supply chain as well as your relationship with business partners.
Be sure to check out our new whitepaper about EDI migration to learn about navigating the challenges of the EDI migration process and how to best plan your EDI migration strategy including the best step-by-step practices to follow for a successful switch to a new EDI provider.
